US skies to be full of drones

Back in February, we wrote about a new bill passed by Congress that gave private, military and commercial drones more access to U.S. airspace. Now, thanks to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), the FAA has released a list of institutions that have asked for Certificates of Authorizations (COA) to fly drones in the United States.

That fact that the U.S. Air Force, DARPA and Department of Homeland Security are flying drones is no surprise. But what about the other institutions on the list?



Proponent

U.S. Air Force
Arlington Police Department
U.S. Army
CAL FIRE (California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection)
City of Herington, Kansas
City of Houston, TX Police Department
City of North Little Rock, AR Police Department
Cornell University
DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency)
DHS (Department of Homeland Security) / CBP (Customs and Border Protection)
DHS (Department of Homeland Security) / Science and Technology
DOE (Department of Energy) - Idaho National Laboratory
DOE (Department of Energy) - National Energy Technology Laboratory
Department of Agriculture - US Forest Service
Department of Agriculture - US Forest Service
Department of Agriculture - Agricultural Research Service
Department of Agriculture - Agricultural Research Service
Department of the Interior - National Business Center/Aviation Management Directorate (NBC/AMD) DOJ (Department of Justice) - Queen Anne's County Office of the Sheriff
Eastern Gateway Community College
FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation)
Gadsden Police Department
Georgia Tech Police Department, Office of Emergency Preparedness
Georgia Tech Research Institute
Hays County Emergency Service Office
Kansas State University
Mesa County Sheriff's Office
Miami-Dade Police Department
Middle Tennessee State University
Mississippi Department of Marine Resources
Mississippi State University
Montgomery County Sheriff's Office
NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration)

U.S. Navy
New Mexico Tech
New Mexico State University Physical Sciences Laboratory (NMSU-PSL) Nicholls State University
NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)
Ogden Police Department
Ohio University
Orange County Sheriff's Office
Otter Tail County
Polk County Sheriff's Office
Seattle Police Department
Texas A&M University Corpus Christi
Texas A&M University - TEES (Texas Engineering Experiment Station) Texas Department of Public Safety
Texas State University
University of Alaska Fairbanks
University of Arizona
University of Colorado
University of Connecticut
University of Florida
University of Michigan
University of North Dakota
University of Wisconsin
USMC (United States Marine Corps)
Utah State University
Virginia Commonwealth University
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Washington State Department of Transportation



Read more: http://techland.time.com/2012/04/23/faa-reveals-list-of-colleges-and-police-departments-that-can-fly-drones/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+timeblogs%2Fnerd_world+%28TIME%3A+Techland%29#ixzz1stAuC3Kj